We evaluated the effect of Tu-Chung (Eucommia ulmoides OLIV.) extract on anabolic action in castrated exercise and non-exercise rats in which the effects of male sex hormone from the testis were excluded. Castration was performed on 32 male Wistar rats aged 4 weeks. The rats were then divided into 4 groups: a non-exercise group treated with Tu-Chung extract (non Ex. Tu-chung G, n = 8), on exercise group treated with the extract (Ex. Tu-Chung G, n = 8), a non-exercise control group not treated with the extract (non Ex. Cont. G, n8), = and an untreated exercise control group (Ex. Cont. G, n=8) .
The Tu-Chung extract was administered orally at a dose of 1g/kg body weight once daily for 4 weeks. Distilled water was given by a similar method to the control groups. As the exercise load, the rats exercised on an animal treadmill at a starting speed of 20 m/min with an increase of 10 m/min every week for 30 min without rest daily for 4 weeks.
The following results were obtained:
1. The relative weight of the adrenal gland (gland weight/100 g body weight ) after 4 weeks was significantly higher in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) and in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G or the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001 each) .
2. The relative weight of the kidneys (kidney weight/100 g body weight) after 4 weeks was significantly higher in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) and was slightly higher in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G.
3. The relative weight of the musculus levator ani (muscle weight/100g body weight) after 4 weeks was significantly higher in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) and also in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) .
4. The 17-KS level in a 24h urine sample after 4 weeks was significantly higher in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G or the Ex. Tu-Chung G (p<0.001 each) and also in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) .
5. The total urinary nitrogen level after 4 weeks was significantly lower in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) or the exercise group treated with the extract (p<0.05) and also in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G (p<0.05) .
These results suggest that administration of Tu-Chung extract significantly increases the relative weight of the adrenal gland, enhances androgen secretion from the reticular layer of the adrenal cortex, and promotes protein anabolic action in castrated rats. In addition, this extract appears to increase the adaptation ability of the adrenal cortex to the stress caused by exercise.

This study examined the secretion capacity of the gonadal and adrenal cortex systems and the morphology of the adrenal cortex in male rats treated with Tu-chung (Eucommia ulmoides O_LIV) extract, the main component of Tu-chung extract, geniposide, or both agents during exercise load testing.
Twenty-four 4-week-old male Wistar rats were used. The rats were divided into four groups : those treated with Tu-chung extract and geniposide (n=7), those treated with Tu-chung extract (n=6), those treated with geniposide (n=7) and a control group treated with distilled water. The dose of each agent was 0.1 ml/100g body weight. The agents were administered orally for 25 days. For the exercise load test, a treadmill for small animals was used, with a tilting angle set at 0. Exercise load testing was performed for 30 min (2-min warm up and 28-min running) daily for 25 days. The running speed was 20 m/min for the first 5 days, and then increased by 5 m/min every 5 days.
The following results were obtained.
1. The relative weight of the adrenal gland (gland weight/100 g body weight) in the group treated with Tu-chung extract and geniposide was significantly higher than that in the group treated with geniposide or the control group (p<0.01) . The relative weight of the adrenal gland in the group treated with Tu-chung extract was significantly higher than that in the group treated with geniposide or the control group (p<0.01, p<0.001) . Furthermore, the relative gland weight in the group treated with geniposide was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.05) .
2. In the group treated with Tu-chung extract and geniposide, the group treated with Tu-chung extract and the group treated with geniposide, the relative gland weight of the testis (testis weight/100g body weight) was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.001) . However, there were no significant differences among the three groups.
3. The 24-h urinary excretion of 17-ketosteroid (17-KS) in the group treated with Tu-chung extract and geniposide was significantly higher than that in the group treated with Tu-chung extract, the group treated with geniposide or the control group (p<0.01, p<0.01, p<0.001) . In the group treated with geniposide, the 24-h urinary excretion of 17-KS was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.05) .
4. In the three groups treated with Tu-chung extract and/or geniposide, serum testosterone levels were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.001, p0.05, p<0.05) .
5. Concerning the morphology of the adrenal cortex, the thickness of the reticular layer of the adrenal cortex was most markedly increased in the group treated with Tu-chung extract and geniposide, followed in order by the group treated with Tu-chung extract, the group treated with geniposide and the control group.
Administration of Tu-chung extract and the main component of Tu-chung extract, geniposide, during exercise load testing significantly increased the weights of the adrenal gland and testis, and promoted testosterone secretion in the adrenal cortex reticular layer and testis.
These findings suggest that geniposide plays an important role in the pharmacological action of Tu-chung.

We evaluated the effect of Tu-Chung (Eucommia ulmoides OLIV.) extract on anabolic action in castrated exercise and non-exercise rats in which the effects of male sex hormone from the testis were excluded. Castration was performed on 32 male Wistar rats aged 4 weeks. The rats were then divided into 4 groups: a non-exercise group treated with Tu-Chung extract (non Ex. Tu-chung G, n = 8), on exercise group treated with the extract (Ex. Tu-Chung G, n = 8), a non-exercise control group not treated with the extract (non Ex. Cont. G, n8), = and an untreated exercise control group (Ex. Cont. G, n=8) .
The Tu-Chung extract was administered orally at a dose of 1g/kg body weight once daily for 4 weeks. Distilled water was given by a similar method to the control groups. As the exercise load, the rats exercised on an animal treadmill at a starting speed of 20 m/min with an increase of 10 m/min every week for 30 min without rest daily for 4 weeks.
The following results were obtained:
1. The relative weight of the adrenal gland (gland weight/100 g body weight ) after 4 weeks was significantly higher in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) and in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G or the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001 each) .
2. The relative weight of the kidneys (kidney weight/100 g body weight) after 4 weeks was significantly higher in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) and was slightly higher in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G.
3. The relative weight of the musculus levator ani (muscle weight/100g body weight) after 4 weeks was significantly higher in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) and also in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) .
4. The 17-KS level in a 24h urine sample after 4 weeks was significantly higher in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G or the Ex. Tu-Chung G (p<0.001 each) and also in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) .
5. The total urinary nitrogen level after 4 weeks was significantly lower in the non Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the non Ex. Cont. G (p<0.001) or the exercise group treated with the extract (p<0.05) and also in the Ex. Tu-Chung G than in the Ex. Cont. G (p<0.05) .
These results suggest that administration of Tu-Chung extract significantly increases the relative weight of the adrenal gland, enhances androgen secretion from the reticular layer of the adrenal cortex, and promotes protein anabolic action in castrated rats. In addition, this extract appears to increase the adaptation ability of the adrenal cortex to the stress caused by exercise.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other aging-related diseases have become an important public health issue in China. However, current clinical drugs have failed to reverse the pathological process of AD. The holistic approach of traditional Chinese medicine offers advantages in improving cognitive function in AD through multiple molecular pathways, and may have potential for preventing AD. This paper summarizes the effects of classical traditional Chinese medicine and its active components in the improvement of AD-related cognitive dysfunction and describes the functional targets and related molecular mechanisms. This may have significance for the prevention and treatment of AD through multi-target intervention.

Objective To establish a simple ,low cost and stable method to detect right ventricular pressure in mice .Methods A PE-50 duct length 15 cm(outside diameter :0 .9 mm ,inner diameter :0 .5 mm) was bent on one terminal and the other terminal was inserted into a 7# syringe needle to connect to a pressure transducer .This duct was intubated into right ventricle via right external jugular vein to detect right ventricular pressure in 80 SPF grade male C57BL/6 mice .Successful cases and operation time were re-corded .Besides ,40 SPF grade male C57BL/6 mice were randomized into the control group (n=20) and chronic hyperbaric hypoxia group(n= 20) .Mice in chronic hyperbaric group were raised in a hyperbaric chamber of simulated 5 000 m high altitude for 4 weeks .The control group was raised outside the chamber simultaneously .Right ventricular systolic pressure was detected with the PE duct .Left and right ventricles were detached and weighed ,and Hermann-Willson index was calculated .Results With this PE duct ,right ventricular intubation success rate was 90% (72/80) ,the operation cost approximately 3 to 5 min each mouse from the separation of blood vessels to detect the time needed for the right ventricle waveform .right ventricular systolic pressure[(39 .52 ± 4 .34 )mm Hg] and Hermann-Willson index(0 .356 ± 0 .039)of chronic hyperbaric hypoxia group were significantly higher than that of control group [(21 .24 ± 2 .7)mm Hg and (0 .256 ± 0 .020)] ,which has significant positive correlation (P<0 .01) .Conclusion It is simple ,fast ,stable ,costing low and of high success ratio to detect right ventricular pressure with this method .

Objective To detect the clinical value of evaluating myocardial viability in patients with old myocardial infaretion(OMI) by measuring myocardial isovolumie contraction motion indices with tissue Doppler imaging(TDI) under the quiescent condition. Methods The myocardial isovolumic contraction motion indices of 30 normal subjects and 30 patients with OMI were examined by TDI. The sample gate was located at left ventricular postero-septal,lateral,anterior,inferior,antero-septal and posterior walls in basal and middle segments separately. The peak positive and negative veiocities(VIVC1 ,VIVC2 ) during myocardial isovohimic contraction phase, and the difference(DIVC) between VIVC1 and VIVC2 were measured, which were analysed combined with the viable fraction(VF) calculated by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Results VIVC1, DIVC were significantly decreased,and VIVC2 was significantly increased in infarct zones of patients with OMI than those of the normal subjects( P <0.05). Compared with normal subjects, myocardial isovolumic contraction motion indices of non-infarct wails in patients with OMI were steady( P >0.05). In OMI group,DIVC of short axis was significantly decreased than that in long axis( P <0.05). Statistic analysis showed that DIVC values on both of short and long axis had significant positive correlations with VF derived from SPECT,and the correlation coefficients were 0. 837 ( P<0. 001) and 0. 797( P<0. 001 ) ,respectively. The sensibility and specificity of evaluating viable myocardium was 75% and 75% separately supposing the cutoff of DIVC on short axis was more than - 1.50,and the sensibility and specificity was 77. 8% and 87.5% separately if the cutoff of DIVC on long axis was more than 0.92. Conclusions Myocardial isovolumic contraction's TDI of infarct zones in patients with OMI had characteristic changes. DIVC on both of short and long axis could be as a new method of evaluating myocardial viability.

Objective To explore any changes in the surface electromyography ( sEMG) signals measured from the biceps brachii, flexor pollicis brevis and the first dorsal interosseous muscles of stroke survivors with hemipa-resis during maximum isometric voluntary contractions. To correlate them with motor function recovery so as to provide a reference in making up individualized rehabilitation programs. Methods Twenty stroke survivors with hemiparesis were selected as the experimental group, and 10 healthy counterparts were recruited as the control group. For all of them, sEMG signals were recorded bilaterally from the biceps brachii, flexor pollicis brevis and the first dorsal in-terosseous muscles during maximum isometric voluntary contractions involving elbow flexion, thumb flexion and index finger abduction. For the stroke patients, such recording was performed repeatedly on the paretic side during the course of convalescence. Both root-mean-square ( RMS) amplitude and median frequency ( MDF) were calculated for the recorded surface EMG signals. The upper-extremity component of the Fugl-Meyer assessment scale ( FMA-UE) and manual testing ( MMT) of each muscle examined were performed with each stroke patient to assess motor function and upper extremity muscle strength. Results There were no significant differences in either RMS amplitude or MDF between the left and right sides of the healthy control subjects. Significant differences in both RMS amplitude and MDF were observed for the stroke survivors and between their values and those of the controls. The patients′unaf-fected side had significantly larger RMS amplitude and MDF than either side of the healthy control group. For the af-fected side of the stroke patients, both RMS amplitude and MDF tended to increase during the course of rehabilita-tion, with significant differences between the values obtained at the first and the last sessions. The FMA-UE scores and MMT results on the affected side were positively correlated with the RMS amplitudes and MDF results for the up-per extremity muscles. Conclusions Surface electromyography is able to reflect the rehabilitation process and the recovery of muscle strength and motor function. It can be considered as a quantitative index for evaluating rehabilita-tion and a useful reference for designing targeted functional training programs.

Digital polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) has been experiencing a rapid development during the past few years. Comparing with the traditional real-time quantitative PCR ( RT-qPCR) , using the same primer and probe, the accuracy for the absolute quantification of target gene is significantly improved. The development of digital PCR is directly related to the development of microfluidics. The integrated fluid circuit is an early combination of the microfluidics and digital PCR, which has a complicated fabrication process with high cost. Recently, researchers are trying to apply the droplet microfluidics in digital PCR, and the droplet microfluidic chip is able to generate millions of droplets within a short time. Each of these droplets containing no more than one target gene is a reaction chamber during the amplification process. After amplification, each droplet is tested to achieve the absolute quantification of the target gene. This paper reviews the recent progresses of droplet digital PCR, and the applications of droplet digital PCR in biological, medical and environmental fields.

Objective To describe the anatomical variants of infants’internal cerebral veins and their tributaries with MR suscep-tibility weighted imaging,and to evaluate the capability in the visualization of cerebral deep veins.Methods 80 healthy infants were enrolled in this study.All the brain images were obtained by a 3D gradient-echo sequence (Enhanced T2 ? weighted angiography-ES-WAN)on a 3.0T MR,which were reconstructed with minimal intensity projection.The septal vein,thalamostriate vein,internal cerebral vein and anterior caudate nucleus veins were evaluated.4 types (ⅠA,ⅠB,ⅡA,ⅡB)were classified based on their rela-tionship with the septal vein-internal cerebral vein junction and interventricular foramen,and 3 types (Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ)based on the drainage patterns of the anterior caudate nucleus veins.Results The septal vein,thalamostriate vein and internal cerebral vein could be clearly and continuously visualized in 100% infants,and the visualization rate of the anterior caudate nucleus veins was 88.1%. TypeⅠA and TypeⅠ were most common in the two classification patterns.Conclusion Infants’internal cerebral veins and their tributaries are able to be clearly shown with the minimal intensity projection in susceptibility weighted imaging,which is a good method to evaluate the cerebral deep veins in infants.

Objective To explore the incidence and risk factors of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Methods The clinical data of 72 cases allo-HSCT from Oct 2004 to Dec 2008 were analyzed. Thirteen factors possibly correlated with the development of aGVHD were analyzed. Results aGVHD was developed in 32 cases (44.4 %), in which grades Ⅰ aGVHD was 11.1%, gradesⅡaGVHD was 18.1%, and grades Ⅲ-Ⅳ aGVHD was 15.3 %. The univariate analysis showed that diagnosis, the status of disease, use ATG, conditioning regimen, donor type,ABO blood group disparity between donor and recipient, CD34+ cell number, early engraftment and neutropenic infection, HLA locus were associated with the occurence of aGVHD (P ＜0.1). On the COX regression mode, an increased risk of aGVHD was associated with HLA mismatch (HR =2.58, P ＜0.005), GVHD prophylaxis without ATG (HR =2.94, P ＜ 0.001), and unrelated donor (HR =1.97, P ＜0.01). Conclusion aGVHD is a common complication after allo-HSCT, and HLA mismatch and unrelated donor are independent risk factors for aGVHD.